Brothers
by The Madhatter2
Summary: Post Primum Non Nocere. A friend comes and backs up Warrick in his time of grief.


BROTHERS  
  
By: The Madhatter  
  
Disclaimer: As much as I love the cast and crew of CSI, they don't belong to me. *snaps finger* Darn.  
  
A/N: Warrick's POV in second person. I LOVE Warrick! There are just too few fics about him. After watching Primum Non Nocere, I HAD to write this.  
  
You stumble backwards, away from her. But your focus is still trained on her, trained on her slim body. You hate the tears in her eyes. You hate how you were the one that caused it. Damn it all to hell.  
  
Slowly, you turn around and stumble your way to the car. Your body is of its own accord. You can't think at all. Your mind is in a daze, frozen in time. Flashes of her face swim before your mind's eye and you wonder when it'll stop.  
  
Suddenly, you find yourself on the road, racing down it. You're not even conscious. Something in your mind tells you to slow down and pull over; it's not safe. But you don't care. You just want the pain to go away. So you press the accelerator a bit more, weaving between cars, heading to an unknown destination.  
  
Blue Diamond. The casino you used to gamble in so long ago. You look up at the flashing neon blue sign and blink. How the hell did you get here? Automatically, your mind triggers the promise you made to Grissom a few years back. No more gambling. You said you would fight the urge. You promised you wouldn't let it consume you anymore. You told him you would try your hardest not to let him down again.  
  
You failed.  
  
And you hate it.  
  
Before you know it, you're sitting at a table, gambling. No turning back now. Finish what you've started. As you throw down a few dollars and gather the cards in your hands, you notice another presence beside you.  
  
"What are you doing here?" You slur, almost as if you're drunk.  
  
"I'm playing cards," the Texan replies. You get ready to rebut him, but he beats you to it. "With my friend."  
  
That simple statement strikes you dumb. Friend? What? What the hell is he talking about? Out of the corner of your eye, you see him pick up his cards and shift them into the order he's comfortable with. You look down at your hand and do the same.  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"You know exactly what I'm talking about."  
  
And you do. You just don't want to admit it to yourself or him. Damn him. As you and your 'friend' play another hand, you ask, "Why are you here?"  
  
"To play cards with you."  
  
"No, you're not."  
  
"What makes you think I'm not?" He shoots back as he reveals his cards. He wins again. Damn.  
  
You stay silent. You don't feel in the mood to argue with him. He's not worth the time or energy, anyway. All you want is the pain to go away. You want to feel the adrenaline flowing in your veins like it did before, but he's stopping you. He's always stopping you.  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"Sorry for what?" You ask.  
  
"Sorry for what happened tonight."  
  
You slam your cards down on the table hard. "You have no idea what you're talking about, man! So stop acting like it!"  
  
He places his cards down, too. This time, you win. "You're right, I don't. But I do have a hunch."  
  
"Another game, boys?" The dealer asks sweetly.  
  
"No, no thanks," he says for the both of you.  
  
He grabs your arm and tries to drag you outside, but you stand firm. "I'm not going anywhere."  
  
"Warrick, let's go. You don't belong here."  
  
"Who are you to say where I belong or not? Just stay the hell away from me." You shrug him off your jacket and walk off. Soon, you hear his footsteps behind you again. "Didn't I just tell you to leave me alone?"  
  
"I'm not leaving without you. I don't care if you don't want me around. You're not safe by yourself."  
  
"Thank you, Mother."  
  
"Warrick, I'm serious. I don't want to see you hurt. I have a feeling something is going to happen. Let's just go, please? Just anywhere but here."  
  
You can hear the worry in his voice, but you don't care much at this point. You just want to be alone - that's the only thing that you desire. Unfortunately, he won't let you. So, you keep on walking.  
  
"Damn it, Warrick!" He grabs your shoulder and spins you around. "Will you just listen? Look, I know you're hurting and you want to get away, but not here. You can't come back here. Remember the last time you were here? Holly Gribbs died."  
  
"You can't possibly know what I'm going through. And I know what happened last time, but we aren't on Grissom's time. What I do on my own time is my own business, so back off."  
  
You spin around and go the way you were going before. "You broke it off with Lily, didn't you? That's why you're here instead of there, with her."  
  
You stop in your tracks. Damn, he's good. "What's it to you? You still don't know how I feel."  
  
He walks up to you. "Maybe I don't, but I'm here for you, man. That's what friends are for - to back each other up when the other's down. That's why I'm here. I don't care if you don't see as a friend, but I do care. I don't want you making the same mistakes you did before. Do you want to go back to that life?"  
  
He does have a point. "No."  
  
"Then let's get out of here. It doesn't matter where we go, just as long as you don't have to be near your addiction."  
  
You nod slowly, finding yourself trusting him once again. He leads you to his car and you both take off.  
  
"Hey, thanks, man. I owe you an apology for earlier. I didn't mean to say all those things to you."  
  
He waved it off. "Forget it. You were mad, you were hurt; it's understandable."  
  
"I'm glad you got me out of there. No telling what could've happened to me."  
  
"Yeah. Is it really that hard - to be in a casino again, I mean."  
  
"No harder than an alcoholic stepping into a liquor store."  
  
"That hard, huh?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"Then how do you work all the cases that involve casinos?"  
  
"I just keep in the case in mind. I'm not doing it for me; I'm doing it for the family of the victim's and for the victim himself. Nobody deserves to be killed in cold blood."  
  
"You got that right. Man, I don't know how you do it, but you're good."  
  
"No, it takes a stronger man to keep someone away from his habits. Thanks, Nick."  
  
He smiled. "Hey, no problem, bro." 


End file.
